Mount Carmel Coach Jake Pierron knew if his team wanted to get back to Sulphur this season, it had to go through a tough schedule.

It doesn’t get any tougher than this week.

The Cubs topped Chapelle 5-2 in a District 9-5A game Thursday. It was the third of six games for Mount Carmel this week.

The Cubs (13-3) already topped Curtis and Fontainebleau.

“We’ve had big wins, but we know every game matters and every game counts,” sophomore third baseman Sam Dares said. “We have to stay at our level.”

Chapelle (10-5) had hard-throwing Samantha Mracich in the circle, but Mount Carmel took advantage of her early.

Hailey Pursell had a solo home run in Chapelle’s second at bat, but Mount Carmel countered with two runs in the bottom of the inning.

Dares doubled in two runs to give Mount Carmel a 2-1 lead. She finished the night 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs.

“Sam is a great pitcher,” Dares said. “I played with her over the summer. Once she’s on, there’s no stopping her, but we just came out swinging today.

“I’m getting a lot of reps in, and it’s helping. I’ve been working a lot on going with the outside pitches and hit the ball where it’s pitched.”

With the win, Mount Carmel clinched the District 9-5A title. The Cubs’ final district game is Thursday against Dominican.

The Cubs extended their lead to 5-1 before Chapelle rallied in the seventh. Pursell’s single scored Rachel Ledet, who led of the inning with a walk.

The Cubs looked to end the game one batter before, but Alaina Guarino made a fielding error.

Chapelle stranded runners at second and third in the seventh and stranded seven total runners in the game. The Cubs stranded eight.

Chapelle Coach Wendy Zucconi said Mount Carmel hit much better Thursday then it did in their first meeting. The Cubs hung onto a 1-0 win against Chapelle on March 18. The only run was scored on a passed ball.

“Our district is pretty competitive, so we all want it bad,” Zucconi said. “It just didn’t happen today. We didn’t hit as well as we did last time.”

Sophomore Amanda Cannella (12-3) didn’t pitch her best, but she battled. She finished with three strikeouts. She threw a season-high 12 strikeouts against Fontainebleau in a 3-1 win Tuesday. Mracich (8-5) excelled with her fastball and rise-ball and finished with nine strikeouts.

“I’m really confident with this defense behind me,” said Cannella, who has been playing softball since she was 5 years old. “I threw a lot of rise-balls (against Fontainebleau), but I didn’t throw many today. It was mainly curveballs today.”

Mount Carmel’s schedule doesn’t get any easier. Mount Carmel travels to the West Monroe Tournament this weekend. The Cubs will see West Monroe, Evangel and Haughton there.

“When we get time off, we have to relax, but when it’s game time, it’s game time,” Dares said.